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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP A panel of Synectics sales and engineering pros discuss a range of key tradeoffs to consider when using IP technology in a casino surveillance solution

Panelists from Synectics: John Katnic, Vice President Global Gaming and Synectic Systems, Inc. Adam Heisler, Business Development Manager North American Markets Daniel Gold, System Engineer Garrett Manning, System Engineer

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 1

IP Camera Compatibility and Capabilities



IP Cameras – What To Look For:



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Compliance Standards:

Sustained 30FPS? Performance in low light conditions? • Latency and PTZ tearing. • Picture quality – some 720P look better than 1080p. • Capabilities/limitations of second or third streams. • Heat, reliability, warranty, US support.. • Supported by mainstream VMS providers. • Smoked domes available? •

• ONVIF and PSIA are competing and evolving protocols that that require more refinement and universal compliance to fulfill their promise. • What do they strive to standardize? Guidelines to discover and manage devices, network configuration, analytics, PTZ configuration, streaming over HTTP/RTSP and security. • What’s the difference between ONVIF and PSIA… ONVIF - Open Network Video Interface Forum:

- Axis, Sony Bosch – 40% global surveillance market, 60% of networked surveillance products. - Primarily IP video and analytics. (SOAP protocol). PSIA - Physical Security Interoperability Alliance: - Cisco, IBM, UTC - 25% of global surveillance market, 20% of networked surveillance products. - Broader security compliance including storage, access control, intruder and analytics (REST Protocol).

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP

IP Camera Compatibility and Capabilities (continued)



Possible Pitfalls of matching IP cameras and VMS:

For VMS to take full advantage of camera functionality, some degree of software integration (tweaks or development) is typically still required.

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Every camera/manufacturer offers different feature sets, codecs, options that not every site will utilize or require. VMS suppliers support the most common, but not necessarily all available camera features.

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Camera and VMS manufacturers often comply with different versions of the PSIA/ONVIF standards.

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Camera firmware changes constantly and not every VMS package supports every version.

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Compliance standards address only a subset of camera features and exclude, for example: - - - -

Audio Secondary streams Alarms Onboard storage



Summary:



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PSIA/ONVIF are imperfect and unfinished frameworks. They are a good start towards making disparate products easily “integrate” together. But approach it eyes wide open. Specifically:

- Define your IP camera functionality scope – specifically what features, encoding options, FPS, data rates, alarms, etc. do you need/want to use? - Verify those features are supported by both VMS and camera mfr you plan to use. If both camera and VMS supplier say “yes”, test beforehand to make sure. - If “no”, establish development cost/timing to add support for the desired feature set. Camera API must support those features for VMS to make available. - Select camera and VMS suppliers that already support desired features with proven sites using the same combination. - Verify IP camera firmware and VMS software versions are compatible and, once it works, do not upgrade either unless necessary and verified to support one another!

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 2

Hybrid Video Solutions (Analogue and IP)



Benefits of keeping Analogue Matrix with Digital Recording (existing sites):



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Zero PTZ latency.



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More failover options for encoder-based systems.



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Staff understands how to use and fix it.



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Pre-existing so less disruptive for transition.



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Pre-existing cabling infrastructure so less labor to replace for IP.



Limitations of Analogue matrix and wall:



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Do not support high definition IP cameras.



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Costly to expand.



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Nearly end of life technology, so IP better long term investment for new sites.



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Cabling, wall flexibility, etc.

Reliable live analogue feeds even if digital recorders fail.

Hybrid solutions: • Analogue matrix and cameras, Digital wall and recorders Best of both worlds – use what you have, transition to HD IP. • Use HD IP cameras where you need highest quality video (Cash cages, table games, count rooms) and lower cost analogue elsewhere (slots, back of house).



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Analogue and IP Video normalized (viewed and played back together).

• Can be less expensive to transition from analogue to IP over several years, but front loaded cost of building network infrastructure for IP.

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP

3

Digital Monitor Wall Considerations and Workarounds



As analogue matrices becomes less common, companies are finding unique ways to “record digital monitor walls” for easy playback and incident creation such as:

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Splitting a digital monitor cable and running back through an encoder to a separate recorded channel (similar to classic monitor wall recording). Not particularly cost effective. Some VMS have underlying database that can record what cameras were on the monitor wall at a specific time/position. Video can then be easily searched, dis played, after the fact. Less complex cabling and more cost effective as it does not require duplicate recording.



Pros:



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Layout and video window flexibility.



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Recorded video viewable on wall.



Cons:



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Potential PTZ control latency.



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Recording working monitor/wall can be costly.



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Hardware/bandwidth considerations. Streams/monitor.

• TV/Monitor considerations (a few expensive large monitors versus many less expensive spot monitors).



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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 4

Storage - Costs, tradeoffs, data rates, multiple streams



Data Rates, Bandwidth and Storage significantly affect cost, picture quality and video performance:



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Varying IP camera picture sizes require more or less data. - - - -

SD (4CIF) ~ 0.5-2.5 Mbps 720i, 720p ~ 2.0-6.0 Mbps 1080i, 1080p ~ 2.5-8.0+ Mbps Megapixel ~ 2.5-25.0+ Mbps



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Higher data rate = More servers, drives, heat, cooling, space, cost, etc.



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Watch for fixed versus variable data rate settings.



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What is the data throughput capacity of your storage servers? # cameras/server.



Dual Streaming – Multiple encoded streams from a single camera device can save bandwidth, storage, cost:



• Record at a higher quality (HD 30FPS, for example) bitrate for reviews where fiber or a large data pipe infrastructure exists (LAN). • Stream live lower quality video (SD 15 FPS, for example) at lower bitrate and/or at fewer frames per second video to mobile or remote client devices where bandwidth is constricted. • When displaying multiple shots on a single large monitor, system can request and display a lower bandwidth stream (SD 30FPS) to prevent video cards or decoders from being overtaxed and causing video stuttering or frame loss.



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Scalable Video Content (SVC) coming soon…

- Single stream with multiple quality “layers” that each client can subscribe to. - Slightly larger bit rate compared to single high quality stream, but far more flexibility and less complexity to distribute to disparate clients.

Redundancy:



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Select your risk tolerance for video redundancy and plan accordingly. - - - - -

Independent OS Drives (separate from storage array). RAID 1. Storage RAID levels (5 or 6). Redundant power. NAS, DAS, SAN – each with pros and cons. Number of cameras and types of camera per server – eggs in several baskets.

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 5

Network Architecture and Cabling



Convert an existing site:



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Is your site able to do a full conversion or partial conversion.



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Distance limitations.



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Initial infrastructure investment.



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How will your digital system handle failover?



- Network - Video



New builds:



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Importance of scaling and leaving room for future expansion.



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Choosing the right hardware/infrastructure.



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Security considerations.



All environments:



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Invest in your technician.



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Will IT be involved?



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Tools of the trade.





- Hardware - Software

Regulatory considerations?

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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 6

Failover and Redundancy



Is IP more or less reliable than analogue?



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Some rules still apply. Camera/cabling still a point of failure.



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Best form of failover is a well-trained technician.



Design and engineer layered systems for no single point of failure:



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Server redundancy (power, RAID, etc.)



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Network



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“Smart” network and/or Recording hot swap failover software.



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Automatic Prioritized Database tracking and playback IP versus Analogue hot swap tradeoffs



DVR versus NVR failover considerations:



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Not limited by physical inputs or outputs, etc.



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Less hardware points of failure. (No matrix, translators, coaxitrons, UTP device, etc.)



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Increase in software points of failure. (Camera firmware, network, etc.)



Realistic expectations – IP systems are no different than IT department systems. With all computers, regular monitoring, maintenance, upgrades, replacement, etc. are normal:



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Network design and cable.



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Forward thinking design.



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Seven Things Surveillance Should Know Before Going IP 7

Cost Comparison: Analogue vs. IP



IP camera prices have dropped significantly causing rapid move to IP systems IP versus analogue at an equilibrium point.



IP average SD 10-20% higher than analogue, HD 20-30%. PTZs 30-40%:



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Price difference depends on SD, HD, MegaPixel.



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Higher IP camera cost offset by elimination of encoder cost.

• Cost of IP Switching infrastructure (core switching, CPU, edge switches, fiber, etc.) and analogue matrix switching infrastructure (Matrix, UTP hubs, punch down blocks, etc) can be comparable based on number of cameras, redundancy, etc.



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New build IP systems easier to cost justify than preexisting analogue to IP conversions.

• IP HD H264 and traditional MPEG2 encoded analogue require comparable data rates (4 Mbit/second) and storage. • Hard drive capacities have grown (3TB) while prices have dropped (barring act of God events such as the flooding in Thailand). Higher quality picture, longer retention, for same or less money.



For more information contact:

John Katnic [email protected] Adam Heisler [email protected] Daniel Gold [email protected] Garrett Manning [email protected]



(888) 755-6255 www.synecticsusa.com



We also recommend you visit the IP Video Market website at: www.ipvm.com